NCJ Number
212457
Journal
Journal of School Violence Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: 2005 Pages: 71-89
Date Published
2005
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article presents information on a comparative research study designed to address student safety issues from the perspective of students.
Abstract
The author opens the article by explaining the helplessness experienced as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and as a result of shootings in a nearby high school, Thurston High, years before the Columbine shootings. In response to these events, the author, who was a literacy educator, questioned what a teacher in an English Education program could do to address issues of school violence and safety. The author designed a study in which school safety issues were addressed from high school students’ perspectives. The study and analysis involved two high schools in the Pacific Northwest where the author was supervising student teachers. Participants were 196 students who mapped their schools in terms of safe and unsafe areas and 204 students who responded to survey questions about their perceptions of school safety on their campuses. Results indicated that students felt safest inside classrooms and in “teacher owned” areas of the school in comparison to hallways, gyms, locker-rooms, cafeterias, parking lots, and the library. The surveys also reveal that schools would be perceived as safe when they are communities to which all students feel they belong and have a voice. Strategies are offered for teachers regarding how to increase perceptions of safety among students: administer a survey, encourage inquiry, and map characters. Tables, references